2026 promises to be a landmark year for athletics, with the Diamond League returning alongside the European Athletics Championships, which will be staged in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This 27th edition represents a prime opportunity for British athletes to rediscover success after a disappointing 2025 World Championships, where many performances ultimately fell short of expectations. Here is a closer look at the key storylines of the season and, in particular, a highly anticipated meeting: the London Diamond League on 18 July, where the best of British athletics will come together to prepare in the best possible way for a major home championship.
A year to get back on track in 2026
The Olympic year of 2024 had seen British athletics flourish, with ten medals won on the track and in the field – the highest total among European nations and third overall, behind an untouchable United States team and the Kenyan distance-running specialists.
By contrast, 2025 proved far more challenging. The standout results were limited to Jake Wightman’s silver medal in the 1500m, achieved despite an injury-hit season, and another silver for Amy Hunt in the 200m, finally delivering on the promise she had shown since her U18 world record back in 2019. These were supplemented by largely expected bronze medals for Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the heptathlon and Georgia Hunter Bell in the 800m – an event in which reigning Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson had to settle for second place once again, seeing a world title slip through her fingers yet another time. Overall, Britain’s medal haul was effectively halved.
No British male sprinter managed to reach the podium in events that have become increasingly competitive, while experienced campaigners Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita also came away empty-handed. More surprisingly still, none of the five relay teams that had medalled in Paris were able to repeat the feat, despite the undeniable depth and quality available. Misfortune also played its part, with injuries or dips in form affecting athletes such as Josh Kerr, Molly Caudery and Matthew Hudson-Smith, impacting medal prospects across several disciplines.
All of this means that 2026 takes on added significance for British athletes – and what better way to respond than by shining on home soil. The opening phase of the Diamond League will act as a full-scale rehearsal for the European Championships in Birmingham. The season will then culminate in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on 4 and 5 September, which already promises exceptional depth, with all disciplines on the programme to crown the very best athletes of the year.
Focus on the London meeting
On 18 July, the Diamond League arrives in London, at the stadium that hosted the 2012 Olympic Games. A symbolic and strategic stop, just three weeks before the European Championships in Birmingham. As ever, the London meeting is shaping up to be one of the highlights of the season.
With around six months still to go, it is only natural that very few athletes have officially confirmed their participation. However, one major name has already committed: superstar pole vaulter Armand Duplantis. The 26-year-old Swedish world record-holder will return to the London Olympic Stadium for the first time since 2018. Gradually, the biggest domestic and international stars – particularly in the sprint and middle-distance events that traditionally dominate this meeting – are expected to be announced. There is little doubt that many medallists from the 2025 World Championships and the Paris 2024 Olympics will be on the start lists for what is often the most explosive meeting of the entire season.
Full Diamond League 2026 calendar
8 May – Doha (QAT)
• Men: 200m, 110m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, high jump, pole vault, triple jump, javelin
• Women: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 400m hurdles, triple jump
16 May – Shanghai (CHN)
• Men: 100m, 800m, 3000/5000m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, pole vault, long jump, discus
• Women: 200m, 400m, 1500m, 5000m, 100m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, long jump, shot put
23 May – Xiamen (CHN)
• Men: 100m, 400m, 5000m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, long jump, shot put
• Women: 200m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, high jump, discus throw, javelin throw
31 May – Rabat/Marrakech (MAR)
• Men: 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, shot put, javelin throw
• Women: 100m, 200m, 800m, 400m hurdles, high jump, pole vault, discus throw
4 June – Rome (ITA)
• Men: 100m, 800m, 110m hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put, javelin throw
• Women: 200m, 400m, 1500m, 5000m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, pole vault
7 June – Stockholm (SWE)
• Men: 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, pole vault, discus throw
• Women: 100m, 800m, 3000m, long jump, shot put, discus throw
10 June – Oslo (NOR)
• Men: 200m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 400m hurdles, pole vault, triple jump
• Women: 100m, 400m, 3000m steeplechase, 400m hurdles, triple jump, shot put, javelin throw
28 June – Paris (FRA)
• Men: 100m, 400m, 800m, 5000m, 110m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, pole vault
• Women: 400m, 800m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, pole vault, shot put, javelin throw
4 July – Eugene (USA)
• Men: 200m, 400m, mile, 110m hurdles, shot put, discus throw
• Women: 100m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 3000m steeplechase, 100m hurdles, long jump, shot put
10 July – Monaco
• Men: 100m, 400m, 800m, 3000/5000m, 3000m steeplechase, high jump, long jump
• Women: 200m, 400m, 3000/5000m, 100m hurdles, pole vault, triple jump, javelin throw
19 July – London (Great Britain)
• Men: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m / mile, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, pole vault
• Women: 200m, 400m, 800m, 3000m, high jump, long jump, discus throw
21 August – Lausanne (SUI)
• Men: 200m, 800m, 5000m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, long jump, triple jump, javelin throw, pole vault*
• Women: 200m, 800m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, pole vault, javelin throw
23 August – Silesia (POL)
• Men: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, pole vault, shot put, discus throw hammer, high jump*
• Women: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 5000m, 100m hurdles, high jump, triple jump, hammer throw, long jump*, shot put*
27 August – Zurich (SUI)
• Men: 200m, 1500m, 3000m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, pole vault*, long jump, shot put, javelin throw
• Women: 100m, 800m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, high jump
4–5 September – Brussels (BEL) – FINAL
• All 32 men’s and women’s Diamond League disciplines
* At the Lausanne and Zurich Diamond League meetings, the pole vault competitions will take place on the preceding evenings, on 20 and 26 August respectively. The same applies in Silesia, where the men’s high jump as well as the women’s long jump and shot put will be held on 22 August.
